Preliminary coronavirus disease (COVID-19) data has shown that Black and Brown communities have experienced the most pandemic-related deaths in the United States, according to a press release. Health experts are now demanding more racial data on the crisis.
Epidemics widen the gap between the haves and have-nots in healthcare, said Director of the Rutgers Global Health Institute Richard Marlink.
“We don’t have a healthcare system that universally takes care of our population so there’s going to be a large percent of people that either don’t have healthcare or fall through the cracks,” he said.
Marlink said these cracks often follow race lines and involve, at a minimum, institutional racism in society.